1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to investment portfolio management tools, and more particularly, to an improved investment portfolio management tool that enable investors to build and manage a customized portfolio of investments.
2. Background Art
For years, investors have been familiar with the convenience of diversifying investment monies through mutual funds. Only recently, however, have the Internet and related investment tools available to consumers made possible dramatic changes in investment methods open to the general public.
One investment technique, which has been enabled by the Internet, is Internet-based stock trading that bypasses individual brokers and therefore saves on transaction fees imposed on the investor. Low cost stock trading and the surge in the stock market over recent years have brought many new investors into the market. However, stock market investing can be risky and expensive. Moreover, it generally causes a great deal of stress with investors as they work their way through the many decision generating factors associated with stock purchases.
Even with the popularity and growth of online stock brokerage firms, many investors still enjoy the convenience, diversification and professional management associated with mutual funds. Mutual funds can offer varying degrees of diversification, sector focus and convenient methods to slowly and methodically build a substantial investment portfolio.
Historically, however, individual stock purchase or mutual fund purchases have been the two options for long-term equity investors. Hybrid account systems that allow customized fund creation have only recently come about with the evolution of the Internet. These systems provide an individual investor with the infrastructure to essentially construct a diversified portfolio of individual equities in a customized fashion while also providing very convenient means for slowly and methodically building the portfolio.
While these custom fund investment solutions offer useful investment options for the general public they seriously lack useful portfolio building and management tools.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/547,409, filed on Apr. 12, 2000, and entitled “Investment System and Method,” discloses an investment vehicle that enables investors to selectively buy and sell interests in fractionalized market units of individual securities. In one embodiment, investors can organize their holdings into one or more groups defined, for example, by security type (e.g., domestic or international stocks or bonds, small-, mid- or large-capitalization stocks, value equities, growth equities, etc.), by related industry sector (pharmaceutical, electronics, telecommunications, automotive, etc.), or by investment motive (e.g., preferred tax treatment, retirement, college fund, etc.), and each of the groups can preferably have a single-tiered or multi-tiered structure.
To facilitate the purchasing of interests in securities for an account having the aforementioned group structures, an investor can specify an “allocation factor” for each security, for each group, and for each sub-group included in an account. The allocation factor for a group specifies a percentage of a total amount to be used to purchase interests in securities for the account in which the group is located, and the allocation factor for a sub-group specifies a percentage of a total amount to be used to purchase interests in securities for the group in which the sub-group is located. The allocation factor for a particular security specifies a percentage of a total amount to be to be used to purchase interests in securities for the group (or sub-group as the case may be) in which the security is located, or if the security is not in a group or sub-group, a percentage of the total amount to be used to purchase interests in securities for the account in which the security is located. Having established these allocation factors, the investor can transmit an order that simply specifies a total amount to be used for purchasing interests in securities for the entire account and the investment vehicle will automatically purchase or otherwise obtain interests in the appropriate securities in accordance with the relevant allocation factors.
In order to further facilitate the development and maintenance of the account, the investor may also be provided with a visual representation of the account showing the hierarchical nature of the account structure. One such visual representation is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the account includes the groups designated “US Stocks” and “Foreign Stocks.” The US Stocks group is multi-tiered and includes Small Cap, Mid Cap, and Large Cap sub-groups. The Small Cap sub-group includes stocks M-P, the Mid Cap sub-group includes stocks Q-S, and the Large Cap sub-group includes stocks T-W. The Foreign Stocks group is single-tiered and includes stocks X-Z. The investor can dynamically interact with the visual representation by means of a graphical user interface (GUI). By using such a GUI, the investor can easily build, reconfigure, and manage the investor's account(s) in a visually intuitive manner. In this regard, the GUI can provide the investor with dynamically re-configurable building blocks that, among other things: (1) can be used by the investor to build an investment portfolio structure of groups, sub-groups, and securities; (2) visually assist the investor with assigning allocation factors and achieving a desired asset allocation; (3) visually assist the investor in making portfolio changes; (4) visually assist the investor in making investments or sales; and (5) visually offer various types of portfolio information (including present stock prices, news items, and portfolio holdings, etc.).
While the foregoing GUI provides the investor with some degree of control over the creation and management of an account, a more robust investment portfolio management tool is desirable.